Acetylene-gas generator.



J. ZIMMERER.

ACETYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

APPLICATION nun OCT. 18, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

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ACETYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 18, l9l5.

1 204.6341. Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

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JOSEPH ZIMMERER, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR T0 FRED M. POQRE, 0E

- SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

AGETYLENE-GAS GENERATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

Application filed October 18, 1915. Serial No. 56,347.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH ZIMMERER,

citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of 'lVashington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Acetylene-Gas Generators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in acetylene gas generators, and the object of my improvements is to provide an acetylene gas generator which, under normal conditions of use, shall involve no risks of fire or explosion and which shall embody automatic means for reliably controlling the Process of gas generation so that the rate of such generation shall always vary dlrectly with normal variations in the rate of flow of gas from the generator to points of consumption and thereby incidentally maintaining a desired constant degree of gas press sure within the generator and within its associated delivery conduits; and a further object is to so construct and arrange the operative parts of such generator that such parts may be separated and reassembled, easily and quickly in the operation of replenishing the gas-making chemicals used therein or in the operation of cleaning such parts. I accomplish these objects by devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein V Figure l is a View in vertical mid-section, on broken line y, 3 of Fig. 2, of a structure embodying my invention; Fig. '2 is a view of the same in horizontal cross-section on broken line w, w of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the same in vertical section on broken lines 2, z of Figs. 1 and 2, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in vertical sec tion on broken lines w, w of Fig. 2, showing portions of such parts in side elevation.

Referring tothe drawings, throughout which like reference numerals indicate like tal plane that is about midway between the cover 7 and the bottom wall 10, thereby forming an annular space 11 within the lower half portion of said container 6, and within such annular space 11 is disposed a body of water whose normal depth is indicated by broken'lines 12, as shown near the top of said socket 8.

Extending through the cylindrical wall of the container 6 into the annular space 11 at a point near the bottomwall 10 is an outlet gas-pipe 13 whose inner end is provided with an upturned elbow 14 into whose upturned end is secured the lower end of a tube 15 to the upper end of which is connected the lower end of a larger tube 16 whose upper end is provided with a perforated end wall 17 and which upper end projects above the surface of said body of water to a plane higher than the top end of the socket 8. v

At an angular distance of ninety degrees from the outlet gas-pipe 13 and in the same horizontal planetherewith is an escape pipe 18, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3, which extends through said cylindrical wall of the container 6 into the annular space 11, and to the inner end of said escape pipe 18 is connected an upturned elbow 19 into Whose upturned end is screwed the lower end of a tube 20 which extends upwardly sothat its upper open end terminates at a plane registering with theplane of the perforated end wall 17 of the larger tube 16 which communicates with the gas-pipe 13 through the tube 15.

WVithin the socket 8 is disposed a cup 21 around whose open top end is an outwardly projecting integral. flange '22 disposed to rest on the top edges of said socket 8,-the vertical cylindrical wall of said cup 21 being of an' external diameter that is slightly less than the internal diameter of said socket 8 whereby said cup 21 may be readily disposed within said socket 8 and easily withdrawn therefrom.

Disposed to be vertically movable within the container 6 is a bell 23, made of sheet metal in a form resembling an-invc'rted cup, the vertical cylindrical. wall of which bell '23 is of an external diameter that is slightly less than the internal diameter of the vertical cylindrical wall of the container 6, thus to permit said bell 23 to be moved vertically within said container 6, and to the upper surface of the horizontal wall 24 of said bell 23 is secured a bridge-like handle 25 which may be grasped by ones hand in the operation of removing said bell 23 from the container. Secured also to the top surface of said horizontal wall 24 to extend upwardly therefrom is a pet-cock 26 whose nipple 27 projects downwardly through said wall 24 thereby providing a controlled passageway for gas between the interior of said member 23 and the exterior thereof. Also mounted on the top surface of said horizontal wall 24 adjacent to the circular edge thereof is a tube 28 of comparatively large diameter whose bottom end is provided with an outwardly extending flange 29. which flange 29 is soldered or otherwise fastened to said top surface of the wall 24 to make a water tight joint therewith. Through said wall 24, in a position concentric with the wall of the tube 28, is a hole within which is fastened the upper end of a smaller tube 30 that extends vertically downward within the interior of the bell 23 where its lower end is connected with one terminal of a U shaped fitting 31 to whose other terminal is con nected the lower end of a tube 32. This tube 32 extends vertically upwardly toconnect with the lower end of a T fitting to whose upper end is connected the lower end of another section of tube 34 which extends upwardly to terminate within another hole in the horizontal wall 24 which opens into a conduit 35 secured to the top surface of said wall. 24 to extend past the central portion of said horizontal wall 24 and extending downwardly through the center of said horizontal wall 24 is a hole within which is fixed the upper end of another tube 36. This tube 36 extends vertically downwardly in a position concentric with the vertical cylindrical wall of said member 23 and to the lower end of said tube 36 is fastened a cup 37 of the form of an inverted cone, and the lower end portion of said tube 36, within said cup 37, is provided with a plurality of holes 38 through which water may find passageway from said tube 36 into said cup 37.

Connected with the horizontally disposed portion 39 of the T fitting 33 is one end of a cock 40 to whose other end is connected a vertically disposed tube '41, as more clearly shown in Fig. 4, the lower end of which tube 41 is closed by a bottom. wall 42 while within the upper portion of said tube 41 adjacent to the open top thereof is disposed a strainer 43 of concave-convex form.

tube 44 being of larger internal diameter than the external diameter of said tube 20, and the lower end of said tube 44 being open, whereby if the annular space between the walls of said tubes 20 and 44 is closed by water then gas may not pass from the exterior of the tube 44 into the tube 20 to escape through the escape pipe 18.

To utilize the structure thus illustrated and described, the cover 7 is removed and the bell together with the cup 21 is withdrawn from the container 6, then water is poured into the annular space 11 until its surface reaches nearly to the top of the socket 8, as indicated by dotted lines After this a quantity of calcium carbid is disposed within the cup 21 whereupon said cup 21 is disposed. within the socket 8, as shown in Fig. 1, then, with the pet-cock 23 open and the cock 40 slightly open, the bell- 23 is lowered into the container 3 until the under surface of the horizontal wall 24 rests upon the tops of the tubes 16 and 20, whereupon. water will slowly find its way through the strainer and the cook 40 to the interior of the tubes 30 and 34 until it rises therein to the level of the water in the annular space 11; then the pet-cock 26 is to be closed. Thereupon water is to be poured into the larger tube 28, which serves as a funnel, until the water in tube 34 is forced upmtrdly into and through the conduit 35 to flow thence downwardly through the tube 36 into the cup 37 to fill such cup 37 and overflow therefrom to fall on tothe calcium carbid that is disposed within the cup 21, and thereupon the cover 7 may be replaced to close the top of the container 6. The overflow water from the cup 37, upon its contact with the calcium carbid, will immediately cause a rapid generation of acetylene gas that will by its expansion soon raise the bell 23 to such height as will cause the same to rise until the top open end of the tube 41 projects above the surfaceof the water within the annular space 11.1, where upon the water in the cup 37 will immediately cease to overflow, thus to stop the supply of water to the calcium carbid with the result that a generation of acetylene gas will soon cease. The gas already generated may find its way through the perforated top wall. 17 into the tube 16, thence through the outlet pipe 13 to points of consumption through a pipe, not shown, which may be connected with said outlet pipe 13, and when such gas is consumed the bell 23 will fall until the open top end of the tube 41 is submerged beneath the surface of the water in the annular space 11, thus to cause such water to trickle through the constricted passageway in the cock 40 whereupon, by a siphon-like action, water will again overflow from the cup 37 to reestablish the operation of generating gas in an obvious manher. Thus the more rapidly gas is consumed at points of distribution, the more rapidly water will overflow from the cup 37 to gain access to the calcium carbid disposed in cup 21, thereby more rapidly to generate gas, while a decrease in the rate of consumption of gas at the points of distribution or a cessation of such consumption will cause a decrease or a cessation respectively in the rate of overflow of water from the cup 37.

Under normal conditions of operation the bell 23 will vary in elevation to cause the top end surface of the tube 4L1 to rise slightly above or fall slightly below the surface of the water in the annular space 11.

Under some conditions of employment it may be desirable to have a separate cup for water disposed within the annular space 11 whereby its exterior walls would be surrounded by the water in such space 11 and into such separate cup may project the tubes 30, 34 and 41 together with the cock 40 thereby to separate the water to be used for generating gas from the water in the annular space 11 which serves merely to seal the passageway between the walls of the container 6 and the member 23.

Hanifestly changes may be made in the forms, dimensions and arrangement of parts of my invention'without departing from the spirit thereof.

W hat I claim is:

1. An acetylene gas generator of the class described comprising a container, a socket having the lower end fastened to the inner surface of the bottom wall of said container to extend upwardly therefrom with its vertical walls concentric with the vertical walls of said container, thereby to provide an annular space between said socket and the vertical walls of said container, a cup removably disposed in said socket, a bell disposed to be slidably movable in vertical directions with said container, the vertical walls of said bell being of a diameter to adapt it to encircle said socket, a horizontal conduit disposed on the top of said horizontal wall of said bell, a U-shaped conduit depending from the top of the bell and having one leg communicating with the horizontal conduit, a tube concentrically disposed within said bell to extend its upper end through the portion being provided with a passageway through its wall and said lower end portion being closed and surrounded by a cup whose side walls extend upwardly to a plane higher than said passageway, anda valve controlled cup connected with said U-shaped conduit within said bell. V

2. An acetylene gas generator of the class described embodying a container, a socket whose lower end is fastened to the inner surface of the bottom wall of said container thereby to provide a space for water between said socket and the vertical walls of said container, a cup removably disposed in said socket, a bell disposed to be vertically slidable within saidcontainer while its vertical walls encircle said socket, a tube se cured to tlie'horizontal wall of said bell toextend vertically downwardly therefrom into the interior of the cup disposed in said tainer, a pipe depending from said bell and extending downwardly into the container, a water trap at the lower end of the pipe, a U-shaped pipe depending from the bell adjacent the edge thereof and extending.

therethrough, a funnel on one end thereof, a condmt forming communlcatlon between the other end and the first named pipe, a

water trap associated with one of the legs of the U-shaped pipe, and gas vent and outlet pipes associated with said container.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this seventh day of October A. D.,

. JOSEPH ZIMMERER.

lVitnesses FRANK WARREN, O. JOHNSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G. 

